Delivering the opening speech, Professor and Doctor Le Van Loi, Member of the Party Central Committee and President of the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences, emphasised that the exhibition space was organised on the occasion of Viet Nam Science, Technology and Innovation Day, May 18.
This is even more meaningful as the social sciences and humanities are facing the need for strong renewal, not only to strengthen the spiritual foundation of society and enhance the nation’s endogenous capacity, but also to promote the value of knowledge in serving the formulation and effective implementation of the Party’s and State’s policies, thereby contributing to the country’s rapid and sustainable development amid increasingly deep international integration.
Professor and Doctor Le Van Loi stated clearly that many documents in the EFEO heritage collection today are no longer merely archival materials. They are academic memories, cultural evidence, and also part of Viet Nam’s intellectual history. More importantly, these materials are now gradually being preserved, digitised, standardised and connected into databases in order to once again serve scientific research, education, knowledge communication and international cooperation.
From a static archive, the documentary system is gradually becoming an open knowledge space. This is not only a technological change, but more profoundly, a transformation in thinking regarding the approach, management and promotion of the value of social science data in the digital age.
“I believe that the exhibition space will contribute to spreading more strongly the value of social science documentary heritage to the research community, the public, and especially the younger generation. More importantly, it helps affirm one awareness: heritage is not behind us. Heritage is accompanying the present and directly participating in the future development of the country,” said the President of the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences.
The exhibition space introduces a rich documentary system, including books, photographs, maps, Han-Nom documents and many other valuable sources of materials, reflecting the historical process and the cultural and social life of Viet Nam and the region from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.
The highlight of the exhibition space is the EFEO Photo Collection, featuring many rare materials of special scientific and documentary value, vividly recording the cultural, spiritual, architectural and social life of Viet Nam in the past.
In addition, collections of ancient books and in-depth research materials are also introduced, demonstrating the systematic accumulation of knowledge by domestic and international scholars, thereby affirming the long-term value of EFEO documentary resources for social sciences and humanities research.
The exhibition space will take place from May 18 to June 21, 2026, at the Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences in Ha Noi.
Over recent years, the Institute of Social Sciences Information has implemented numerous activities to preserve, digitise and exploit EFEO documentary resources, gradually building digital databases to support access and exploitation in the digital environment, in line with the development trend of modern libraries.
